How to begin a diet?

You have decided that you are ready to start your healthy new habits. It's a new year and it's time to make some good food choices and lose those extra pounds, but where do you begin a diet?

When you decide you are ready to change some bad food habits and lose a few pounds, the first thing you should do is determine what your goals are. Do you want to lose five pounds or fifty pounds? Do you want to simply tone your weak muscles or trim your waistline? Once you determine what your goals are, you can begin to make a plan that makes sense for your personal goals and your lifestyle and personality.

Once you have written out your goals, you should display them so you can see them daily. This will help remind you what you are working toward and will help keep you focused on the things you need to do to accomplish your goal. You might want to hang it on your refrigerator, on your bathroom mirror or keep a copy in your wallet. Each time you pull out your credit card or dollar bill for that donut, there are your goals. It may make you think twice about choices you are making daily.

Now that you know what your goals are, you can start to make healthy food choices. If you are trying to lose weight, start by making adjustments in the portion sizes of your meals. This is a simple task, but one that may help you see results very quickly. If you go out to eat, ask the server to put half of your meal in a box. If you do this, you will ensure that you are only going to eat half of the portion, which is typically more than enough food for one meal. You can take the boxed amount home for tomorrow's lunch or dinner.

In addition, you should determine how many calories you should be eating each day based on your size and activity level. A simple formula is to multiply your current weight by ten. That should be the amount of calories you should have each day. If you are exercising a lot and your activity level is high, that amount will increase. The more sedentary you are, the more than number may decrease each day.

In addition to following good eating habits, you should be exercising daily. Exercising doesn't have to be extremely time consuming. You can incorporate small changes into your daily routine. Park as far away from the door as possible when you go to the grocery store. Use the stairs at work instead of the elevator. You can also take walks as much as possible if the weather permits you to do so. You may want to invest in a pedometer which will track how many steps you are taking each day. Aim for 10,000 steps per day and make it a goal.

Comments

You have some really good step by step instructions here. I really like the fact that you give a calorie count that's reasonable for the individual. A 1500 calorie diet for a 200 pound person is going to cause that person to burnout on their diet very quickly.